The Next Step: Finding and Viewing Messier's Objects

In 1752, Charles Messier left the small French town of Badonviller for employment in Paris as an astronomer's assistant. In the following years, he discovered 20 comets and compiled the first catalogue of over 100 objects listing star clusters, nebulae and galaxies collectively called Deep Sky Objects.

Today, Messier's catalogue is often the first set of Deep Sky Objects observed by budding amateurs wanting to go beyond viewing the Moon, Planets and Sun. His list of objects represents the biggest, brightest and most beautiful objects in the heavens, the cream of the crop. They include the Pleiades, the Orion Nebula, the Ring Nebula, the Omega or Swan Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy and 100 more. And, what is even better, all of these objects can be seen using a telescope as small as 3 inches in diameter.

The Next Step is a complete field guide to discovering Messier's objects, a celestial road map for the successful navigation and exploration of these beautiful heavenly bodies.

Highlights of The Next Step are as follows:

- Easy to understand and easy to use, written especially for the novice amateur astronomer.
- Many sidebars and boxes to highlight important information.
- Type size is larger to make reading at night easier.
- Details the full history of Charles Messier, his colleagues and Paris during the 1700s. Includes new historical information about Charles Messier's childhood and journey to Paris.
- Complete set of 22 colored star charts for locating every Messier object including enlargements of ''cluttered'' areas. Charts can be used in conjunction with any telescope.
- Catalogue pages offer up-to-date information and a standardized format for easy use and comparison. Every object has a photograph that is at the same size, scale and exposure for easy comparison.
- Discussion and check-off list for the Messier Marathon.
- Expanded catalogue now includes 112 objects.
- Expanded Glossary

Further Discussion:

There are 36 pages devoted to Messier's history and times. This part of the book has many ''sidebars'' to highlight interesting points. It is printed in full color with many historical pictures of Charles Messier and the places he worked and lived including information about his boss and colleagues.

A section of the book has a detailed discussion and examples of ''tricks'' to find objects in the sky.

There are 22 pages of full-color star charts to help you locate all of the Messier objects. This includes two summary charts, 16 charts showing the sky facing north and south and four close-up charts.

The individual catalogue pages comprise the largest section of the book. This part of the book is printed in black and white. Each object has its own two-page spread, a left and right hand page. The placement of the information on the pages is consistent from object to object. Each left-hand page has the original Messier description (in English), the NGC description, coordinates, observing periods, names, magnitude, distance and comments. Each right-hand page provides a brief description using a 4-inch diameter telescope, indexes for locating and identifying the object and a photo of the object taken with a small telescope to approximate what you will see in the telescope.

Ken Graun is author of six star charts and the popular astronomy books, What's Out Tonight?, Touring the Universe and The Next Step: Finding and Viewing Messier's Objects. His children's books include Our Earth and the Solar System, Our Constellations and their Stars and Our Galaxy and the Universe.